Wednesday 23 September 2020

Farewell, friends

Howzit SumRandos!


Together we have been on a journey to live online, but under the radar. Starting in South Africa, we ducked cyber sharks and looked for a safe harbour to surf the internet without having someone looking over our shoulder. In Mauritius we decided to live the island life and imagine a world where dodgy folk weren’t spear-phishing our good times. Now, nine years later, it is time we part ways.

SumRando (Mauritius) Ltd has made the decision to discontinue its consumer VPN and chat application offerings. My team has always had your back and it has been an honour to safeguard your online presences as you went about your day-to-day. I am confident that the lessons we have learned together, prepared us to venture forth and stay safe and secure, to treat uncensored, private internet access as the human rights that .

As we approach Halloween, my favourite holiday, I want to give you notice and time to choose a new provider as your go-to VPN—someone you trust. SumRando will officially go dark on the 1st of October. While we could have partnered with a different provider, we have made the decision to allow you to research and choose your own provider. Your SumRando account information will cease to exist and, as you know, there are no traces to sweep up.

I know this is not welcome news, but I believe there are a handful of reputable providers who will also treat your privacy as paramount. There are others who, given the chance, will safeguard your online identities and prioritise integrity over profits.

With that, put on your cyber masks, be safe and live life like just Sum Rando.


Cheers,


Jonathan de Wolff
CEO, SumRando 

*Note, if you are a Platinum user, we will be refunding transactions processed August 1st or later and terminating recurring payments. Additional questions? Please emailsupport@sumrando.com.

Wednesday 24 June 2020

Apps Against Apartheid

As the world watches country-wide protests and the failure in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we can't help but wonder if we are witnessing the end of the United States of America as we know it. We hope not. For all of its faults - its foreign policy, its systemic racism, its colonial legacy - America has been a beacon of hope for the world. The fabled "American Dream" is the dream of humanity.

Where would we be without the United States? Its contributions to science to medicine, to technology, to our very way of life, and yes, despite everything, to human rights, are such that the world would be a vastly different place, a boring place, a sick place, had it never existed.

We all dream of freedom. We all dream of equality. We all dream of home ownership, good schools for our children, good health, enough food to eat, love of family and friends, and physical and economic security to live life as we see fit.  Alas, we don't live in that world. We live in one where exploitation is the norm, one where the wealthy and powerful use Fear of the Other to maintain control. What is racism? It is a learned evil. It spreads like a virus.

Black Lives Matter is part of the cure. What we are seeing from the protestors gives us hope, not only for the United States, but for the world. Dictators abound these days. While the Western world thought democracy had triumphed and the rest of us hoped to achieve said democracy, recent history has trended the other way. Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Nkurunziza, Sisi, Khamenei, Maduro, Orban, Modi, Duterte, Erdogen, Bin Salman, Xi Jinping, Johnson, Aliyev, Lourenco, Kim Jong-un, al-Maktoum, Biya, Deby, al-Khalifa...oh, this is exhausting. Can we stop this descent into global fascism, please?

Sumrando supports #BlackLivesMatter. Founded in a nation well-versed in the evils of racism, we seek to provide the tools global citizens need to protect their freedom. Our VPN, Messenger, and STASH apps provide the privacy, security, and anonymity you need, whether you are a protestor, a journalist, part of a marginalized group, or just an average citizen who wants to protect their rights, our apps are there for you. The best part? They are free! (Get them here)

Look, we'd love to not have to exist, but someone has to provide encryption apps to protect the oppressed from their oppressors. Until we achieve the dream of freedom for all, end systemic racism, and annihilate global exploitation, we will continue to provide these tools of protection. So go Black Lives Matter, go America! You can do this.

Here's to the future!

#appsagainstapartheid



Wednesday 27 May 2020

Covid-19 and Tech roundup - May 27

How we act in times of crises defines us.

The world has been brought to its knees. Too many people are using it for profit. Is crisis profiteering not the worst that humanity has to offer? Whether it be war or natural disasters or this awful disease, making money from human death is despicable. It doesn't matter if you are a legit business or a criminal enterprise, it is all the same evil.

Maybe worse than profiteering, though, is actively interfering with recovery efforts, like cyberattacks on hospitals, which has gotten so bad that the Red Cross had to beg governments to take action to clamp down on hackers.

Or what about being the chair of an organization that exists to promote computer science in schools and calling a security researcher a criminal because he brought to your attention a potentially devastating security flaw in your website, and you are also governor of a US state and your website is a pandemic unemployment assistance site and that security flaw exposes people's bank accounts? (Why hide the flaw if you aren't benefiting from it in some way?)

Uganda has used Covid as an excuse for further censorship it imposes under the guise of a social media tax. The tax undermines the fight against the disease.

And what of those who use this pandemic as an excuse to inflame ethnic hatreds and oppress those who are different than them, such as the Rohinga at refugee camps in Bangladesh or the people of Jammu and Kashmir? Internet shutdowns, especially in a time of crisis, endanger lives.

Then there are those using the pandemic as an excuse to surveil us and collect our data.
الصحة العامة واحترام الخصوصية: توصيات أكسس ناو فيما يتعلق بتطبيقات تتبع مُخالطي المرضى بفيروس الكورونا (كوفيد-19)

Let's do better, so we can all recover from this pandemic with some human dignity intact.


Tuesday 10 March 2020

You are online. You need SumRando VPN, Messenger, and STASH.

Whether you are an activist, journalist, member of a marginalized group, or just a regular citizen, you need online protection. In this age of data selling, theft, and surveillance, privacy is under siege. Our encryption products can help you stay safe and anonymous. Get our apps here.



Thursday 13 February 2020

You are being robbed!

"I have nothing to hide."

It's a common refrain when people are confronted with questions about the security measures they take to protect themselves online, as if only criminals need to protect their online identities. You are far more likely to have your identity stolen than your house robbed, yet billions of dollars a year are spent on protecting homes from would be invaders while most people spend pennies on online safety. Indeed, the false sense of online security, the "I have nothing to hide" defense, is so prevalent that people voluntarily put surveillance devices made by large tech corporations into their homes, opening themselves up to hackers and cyberthieves.

A quick Google search on home invasions leads one to a host of misinformation about the threat of burglary, including one that claims one in five homes "encounter a violent home intrusion or burglary." We'll file that one under "extreme lying." You can scroll through pages and pages of articles written by home security companies trying to scare people into buying their products.

The reality is that 0.4% of Americans are victims of burglary, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Contrast that with the number of Americans who are victims of online theft. According to a 2018 report by NortonLifelock, there are 27 cybercrime victims every second and 117 million identity theft victims. That is more than one third of the population of the United States, which is twice the global average.

You don't need an expensive program to protect yourself online. VPN encryption can help hide your information from would be thieves. In fact, you can use SumRando VPN for free. Get 1 GB free per month or unlimited data starting at $6 US per month.